Where do you get your electronics

Posted by: @slamer

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So I asked where you get your electronics in my intro post, which I apparently was not supposed to do :).

We don't really police things to that degree, so I wouldn't worry about it!

To answer your question, I buy a ton of stuff on Amazon as the prices are great, and it gets delivered for free the next day.  However, they are not a great source for microcontrollers.

For microcontrollers and advanced sensors, I shop at DigiKey and Mouser. They both ship for free if you buy at least a hundred dollars worth of stuff and if you order on a weekday, it arrives in less than 24 hours. Between the two of them, you can get just about everything.

Pimoroni is also a great store, they are in the UK but ship worldwide.

I used to shop at the local electronics stores as well; we have two very good ones here in Montreal. However, I can no longer leave the house, so I have to shop online.

😎

Bill

Hi @slamer,

   Just to amplify/clarify my comments.

Most, if not all, of the 'older design' Arduino boards, such as Nano and Uno, as well as some of the Espressif ESPxxxx  (XXXX = 8286, 32, 32-S3, etc.) boards, have been copied (or 'cloned') countless times, with most clones apparently originating from China. These copies or clones can be variable in quality, and in many cases the design is not strictly identical, which can give rise to challenges. In many cases, it is possible to 'work around' the 'challenges', but they can be tricky, and some products on offer are just rubbish. That is a risk for you to consider.

In my limited experience, the 'clone' boards can be very cheap, say US $1-$5 in many cases, via AliExpress, and you may decide that they will be fine for your personal hobbyist project. I would not personally consider them for any 'professional' projects, or for anything that is likely to be a hazard if it failed. I would also assume that the product on offer may vary, or even become unavailable, within a very short time.

AliExpress has a number of competitors, but I have no personal experience of using them, so I can't comment on them.

Many 'very similar' offers of boards, components, etc. appear on Amazon and eBay, which I suspect are often small semi-private vendors buying a small quantity from AliExpress and other similar operations, with the aim of reselling them. These vendors will usually offer quicker delivery, will probably be of similar quality to direct purchases from AliExpress, but may be a bit more expensive, for obvious reasons.

If you are looking for 'genuine and original' boards and components, which will usually be more predictable, more expensive, and of a higher quality, then companies such as those suggested by Bill (@dronebot-workshop) are more appropriate. As Bill mentions, they often offer free delivery, providing your order exceeds a certain value.

So basically, take your choice. As companies like Arduino generously publish their designs, you may prefer to purchase their products, to encourage them to continue in that fashion.

Best wishes, Dave

Posted by: @slamer

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What do you look for that tells you it is a quality part and worth buying?

I am not gonna lie. On Aliexpress, mostly I am looking of trustworthy score of the vendor, and how many orders they sold out. In the past I was looking if they were "Aliexpress choice" / the top sellers, but now I am looking if they are first to third top sellers from the market, by compare them manually.

I live in Europe so the most electronics (pasive components) I bought from tme.eu, but sensors and modules I bought all from Aliexpress (it's a crazy pack of 40 sensors on Aliexpress). And some fludor, flux and letcon tips , I bought from a local shop. 
I think I bought the original arduino board from a local shop authorized of arduino, or at least with same amount of money.
Some ESP boards I found them on tme.eu, and the raspbery pi board again from a local shop (online, but in my city), until I discovered thepihut.com

Posted by: @davee

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In my limited experience, the 'clone' boards can be very cheap, say US $1-$5 in many cases, via AliExpress, and you may decide that they will be fine for your personal hobbyist project. I would not personally consider them for any 'professional' projects, or for anything that is likely to be a hazard if it failed. I would also assume that the product on offer may vary, or even become unavailable, within a very short time.

On a tutorial, I heard that clone boards they are handy on production, but they are not good on developing. In other words, you don't experiment too much on a clone, by flashing the sketch frequently. Give a task to it and live it until it breaks.

Just because I can 🙂

These are some modules / packs that I already bought, and I wasn't looking back with sorry :

480pcs Monolithic Ceramic Capacitor assortment Kit

Jumper Wire Cable Set - very usefull for you

Transistor Kit

Foliar rain sensor module 

MQ-7 module Carbon monoxide gas sensor

Alcohol Ethanol Sensor

MQ2 Smoke Gas

45 in 1 Sensors Modules - this is similar with the one I bought

PS: some of the ones I bought are no longer avaiable.

Hi @cristishor201 & @slamer,

A couple of further 'clarifications' and comments:

NB I am only a customer, so I may be mistaken. I am not a 'recommending' AliExpress or Choice ... just trying to share a personal observation, with no guarantee it is correct.

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My impression is that AliExpress 'Choice' labelling (in UK at least) of an item, is obviously a carefully planned marketing strategy. So beware, as always, but you may decide it is helpful to you.

Choice appears to mean that delivery is 'enhanced'. The exact terms need to be checked for each item, but as a typical illustration:

• Providing the order total of 'Choice' items (before taxes, shipping, etc.)  exceeds a stated amount, say £8  (roughly US $10?), then delivery of those items will be free
• All of those 'Choice' items will be bundled together, and delivered quite quickly .. say a week or so (different items may have different times)
• If an item is delayed, a £1 voucher may be offered, against future orders. If say 3 items are delayed, you may get 3 vouchers, but only 1 such voucher can be added to an order, and they have limited life... maybe 1 month?
• there may also be other benefits, regarding free returns, etc., but I haven't made use of them, so I can't comment.

I do not regard 'Choice' as a recommendation by AliExpress ... but empirically it seems like a handy way of keeping the price down, and the delivery fairly quick.

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Confusingly, some items seem to be both 'Choice' and Bundle

Sometimes, when I click an item that is labelled 'Choice', it will go to another shopping page, with many different items, including that one. Furthermore, this page has a separate Shopping basket, and some extra 'rules', such as at least 3 different items, chosen from this expanding window, for free shipping (but can be less than £8), further discounts for total of 6 or 10 items, maximum of 10 items.

Again, yet another marketing strategy ... and a complication, as when ordering several items, you may have them split into different baskets.

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And an observation overall ... don't be surprised to see the same item at different prices, including in the Choice and Bundle pages. You can decide which you prefer, but check carefully!

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Re: I heard that clone boards they are handy on production, but they are not good on developing. 

I have retired, so I no longer have any connection with production. However, if I was producing a product, I would be very cautious of any components/boards that I was shipping to customers, as even a very small percentage of returns can be disastrous, and the consequence of a board failing may be much greater than the value of the board.

Clone boards can be handy for trying out ideas, especially to a hobbyist, with minimal budget, providing you personally assess the risks are acceptable for your specific project and level of expertise. The risks of using clone boards will typically be greater than with 'branded' products.

Just my personal thoughts. Everyone must make their own choices. Good luck and best wishes, Dave

Hey everyone,

It occurred to me I never responded back with appreciation for the resources and comments.

I got slammed with a fast pace project at work and a sump pump failure and clean up at home to deal with.

So, thanks for the comments and resources. I will check them out.

Sherwyn.